Great question Ben. I am curious about his myself, having driven a long way to the coast to find awful conditions several times when I started out. I have learnt a little and it has helped a lot-- and am happy to share that. As you live on the coast, my advice might be less useful. Here is a rough guide that may seem obvious (or wrong - if so, please correct me) to some:
Wind is bad:
Wind is the main indicator for me. Wind effects visibility in the water a lot. If there is not much wind, everything else normally falls into place (at least it has for me this year).
- Low winds are good (much more than 10mph, I usually don't bother*)
- Direction: Winds from the land (north, NW, NE) are good, winds from the sea bad.*
I'm told that a lot of wind on preceding days can be bad -- but I don't worry about that too much. DeeperBlue forums will usually warn if viz is chronically bad.
*.. but check frequently as wind forecasts change both size & direction frequently. I use the BBC.co.uk weather as a rough guide (
BBC - Weather Centre - 5 Day Forecast in Celsius for Swanage, United Kingdom ) but this site:
GB Wind Map is far better. If the BBC forecast is bad, check this site -- maybe the bad wind is later in the day. Coastal areas often have a micro-climate, so unless the forecast is really bad, it might be worth taking the risk. I've salvaged several perfectly good fishing days despite initially poor forecasts.
Rain:
I hardly notice a light drizzle when diving but obviously heavy rain could be an issue. Heavy rains in preceding days cause run off which will mess up visibility -- but I normally don't worry about that too much (it probably effects some areas much more than others). DeeperBlue is often a good source of info. on viz -- although it can vary from place to place and hour to hour.
Sun
I don't even consider it.
Tides:
Some say all states are good. I normally fish small bays and I prefer an incoming tide.
- Start, end or middle of an incoming tide - all have been good for me.
- High tide has been good for me - mullet patrol the shallows looking for food.
- Low tide. Two of my best days fishing were in the long double low tide that are normal in Dorset east of Portland - both in the middle of the day.
I only realised this when updating my fishing log this week -- must see if I can reproduce this, as I normally try to miss the low tide:duh (but its hard to miss completely
).
- Falling tide. I don't recall fishing a falling tide -- maybe I should try it. They say headlands are good on a falling tide.
The Guernsey spearos have loads of experience and some interesting ideas about tides. I need to go back re-read it myself. I think low tides make it easier to dive for flatties (is that right?) and certainly for scallops (& I think Pav said for lobsters & crab - although I got most of my crabs at/near high tide from a reef).
Swells
Big swells make me sick in the water but it seems like you can find shelter from them (for us, Chesil Beach recently provided that much needed shelter for the coast east of there). Some folk swear by the magic seaweed surfing website. I used it a couple of times but really haven't got to grips with it & so no longer use it. Too much info. (On the other hand, Flyflicker provided local swell info. on DeeperBlue one weekend this Summer that helped saved the day for me, and probably others).
Long Term forecast
If you are going away for a week or two, the BBC forecast is useless. Try this site instead:
uk.weather.com - Local Weather (the long range farming forecast on BBC's Country File program is quite good).
BTW Do you get the weird double length low tides on the Isle of Wight that occur on much of the Dorset coast. I heard it said that the Isle of Wight causes it but I suspect Chesil is partially responsible (as it only occurs east of there).
